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Michael Jackson Signing Styles in Julien's Tompkins and Bush Sale

On December 2, Julien's Auctions is selling The Collection of Tompkins and Bush. The collection contains 465 lots of Michael Jackson memorabilia, 287 of them autographed.

Michael Bush and the late Dennis Tompkins were Michael Jackson's costume designers for 25 years, during Jackson's most successful period. They were the consignors of the signed Thriller jacket that Julien's sold for $1,800,000 in June 2011.

Almost all of the autographs in the Tompkins and Bush sale are a variation I'm not familiar with. I've only been looking at Jackson's autograph for a few years, though, and we have members here who have collected him for decades, so I'd appreciate your input and exemplars.

If you know Michael Jackson's autograph well, please look at a few images below from the auction and let me know what you think. Even better, browse the auction and upload any similar examples you have: http://www.julienslive.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/77/

Julien's is the world's premier auction house for Michael Jackson memorabilia, so they would know his autograph better than most of us. I'm just surprised I haven't seen this style before.

Thanks for your help.

Tags: 2012, Julien's, auction, michael jackson, tompkins and bush

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Helen on December 30, 2012 at 4:09pm

This may be interesting for the general discussion:

An unusual MJ autograph with a believable story by the person who says he got it signed in person (it's not for sale). The explanation for the oddness is that Michael signed it with a biro holding the piece of paper in his open palm, so the pen initially stabbed through the paper.

Without the story I'd have poo-pooed this signature. With it... I find enough MJ still in it to believe it. What do you guys think? If it's real it's an indication what an unusual/sloppy MJ sig can be expected to look like. Which is nothing like the Bush one.

I found the story here: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Michael_Jackson_in-person_au...

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Permalink Reply by TeamMichael777 on December 30, 2012 at 4:25pm

Lols,, really and truly Helen, its so sloppy i think its believable, i can see it happening. but i wouldn't pay for it, if i had it and knew its origins i would just frame it and keep it, maybe pass it down to the GREAT grand kids

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Permalink Reply by MJ-fan-1965 on December 30, 2012 at 4:41pm

I think there's a bunch out there that are authentic that look like Michael used his mouth to sign :) Heck that black coat that actually has "old" provenance doesn't look squat like his sig, but the provenance from previous auctions is, and history from the person who took it from MJ (he runs the foundation that MJ gave it to way back when).

BTW I got to looking at the provenance page this morning from 2009's auction (its how I ended up looking at those stupid golden tickets and finding that the "idget" had a sale on a ticket too. Its found here: http://www.juliensauctions.com/auctions/2009/music-icons/michael-ja...

I don't know how I stumbled on this page but I can't find anything for the other later auctions for a page like this. I was hoping to see one for the later auctions, just to see what they listed. One would think since they hire and apparently pay an inside person to check on provenance (what's her face? that Darren boasted so much about? ) she would have some documentation. (I think right about now I'd resign if I were her).

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 31, 2012 at 1:17pm

I think it's probably genuine.

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Permalink Reply by Wendy Christine on January 1, 2013 at 12:28pm

Hi Helen,

This was on eBay not too long ago. I saw it then and liked it, read the story you mentioned about the signing :)

It looks like late-70s to early-80s (Thriller era) MJ signature. I don't remember if that was the time period the seller stated he was to have signed it though. Here are some examples from that era that this one reminds me of, albeit with this example being more slippy-sloppy :))

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Permalink Reply by just some dude on January 2, 2013 at 4:51pm

Real!

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Permalink Reply by Veronica Shultz on December 30, 2012 at 5:16pm

Has anyone got a reply yet from Julien's? About refunds?

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Permalink Reply by MJ-fan-1965 on December 30, 2012 at 6:17pm

As of yesterday I had not heard anything. I did find another person on Twitter (as did Taaj) that was talking to Karen Faye about trying to get her $ back too and Julien's blew her off. Both Taaj and I tweeted her to please come to the discussions and share what Julien's told her, I'm not sure if she is one of the previous people who talked here or not.

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Permalink Reply by TeamMichael777 on December 30, 2012 at 9:47pm

Hi Veronica, i am in touch with 6 people, no one has had refunds yet. Are you the same Veronica winner of lot 707? thank you. Steve have you heard from Thomas, hows is his refund going? Thxs